Teaching Online Courses Research Articles

Massive open online courses (MOOCS): systematic literature review in Malaysian higher education

This study provided a systematic and organized review of 32 studies regarding using of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Ma-laysian higher education from 2012 to 2017. This paper conducted an analysis of studies dedicated of using (MOOCs) for learning on the basis of certain dimensions namely, journal, country, author, year of publication, research methods, type of respondents, the models, and the theories. The findings obtained revealed that the interest on the topic has shown an increasing trend over recent years that it has ultimately become a well-known topic for academic research in the future. Nevertheless, to boost and enhance the using (MOOCs) for learning, it is important that future studies apply considerable use of theoretical and methodological approaches like the qualitative methods to examine the factors it will encourage students to use (MOOCs).

PREPARING STUDENTS TO MEET THE DEMAND FOR 21 CENTURY SKILLS: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, EXPECTATIONS

The article introduces the study of English as a lingua franca (ELF). The author outlines why ELF is an important area of research. The different ways of understanding how English is used and taught in universities today in Master's degrees academic writing learning process are described. The role of students’ digital skills and new trends of online education implementation in the foreign language teaching process in a higher educational institution are highlighted. The problem of professional online tutor preparation was determined. The opportunities for implementation of online education for improvement of higher pedagogical education in the foreign language teaching process are revealed. Professional online tutor training curriculum was specified. The opportunities for virtual education and communication are described. Necessity to generalize today’s students’ skills for providing education online course is considered. Technology influence on language learning process, new ways of teaching and learning: the students’ interacting in groups or working on a monologue or story; involving students to record podcasts, audio files, developing students’ written skills in blogs and wikis are investigated. On-line professional training courses on leading on-line platforms as an up-today trend in education are pointed out. The examples of on-line courses for students and teachers on leading on-line platform «Future Learn» for 2017-2018 yy. are presented. The digital tools, which we can used learners for presenting their digital identity to the world by using digital badges, digital CVs to show off what the students can do are summarized.

Assessment in Online German: Assessment Methods and Results

As online educational programs and courses increase (Allen & Seaman, ), it is important to understand the benefits and limitations of this delivery format when assessing students and when comparing learning outcomes. This article addresses the following two questions: (1) What are some of the best practices in assessing language skills online and how do they differ from assessment in face‐to‐face (F2F) courses? (2) How do learning outcomes differ in online vs. F2F courses? Both questions are answered based on previous research and our own practices and results in second‐year German. We found that the most effective online practices are too time‐consuming and costly to implement. Poor computer literacy skills and test security can be further issues in online environments. The solution lies in frequent formal and informal assessments. When comparing online with F2F language learning, meta‐analyses give online formats a slight advantage over F2F (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, ). In this study no significant differences were found between the F2F and online sections. Noteworthy, however, is that large differences in standard deviations and score ranges between online and F2F classes suggest that online language learning works well for some and not as well for others.

Метод построения индивидуального образовательного маршрута при прохождении заданий на тренировку профессиональных умений по составлению SQL-запросов

The article substantiates the importance of the formation of individual educational routes as factor influencing the effectiveness of training and the ability of a specialist to develop skills in professional activities. The expediency of the use of computer simulators in practice-oriented training, particularly in teaching database technologies, is justified, since the existing open educational online courses don’t always provide full-fledged conditions for the development of sustainable practical skills to solve typical professional tasks. The paper proposes a method for constructing an individual educational route during the passage of tasks for training professional skills in compiling SQL-queries, within which the task and student models are described. Based on the proposed models A* algorithm is modified and its conditions for creating the optimal individual educational route are described. Based on the results of a theoretical study, a computer simulator has been implemented for training professional skills in writing SQL-queries using the method of building individual educational routes during the completing tasks for training professional skills in writing SQL-queries and gamification tools and gaming technologies. The results were tested. Based on the analysis of the results, it was concluded that using of the proposed method and algorithms implemented in a computer simulator is expedient.

Effect of flipped class model based on SPOC in the course ofMedical Nursingteaching

Objective To explore the application of flipped class model based on SPOC in the course of internal medical nursing. Methods Randomly selected from Shanxi University of Medical grade 2014, 206 undergraduate students as the research object. The control group (104) and experimental group (102).The experimental group used flipped class model based on Small Private Online Course (SPOC) teaching method; the control group used the traditional teaching mode. After the end of the course, compared two groups nursing students′ self-regulated learning ability and critical thinking ability whether there are differences by autonomous learning ability scale and Chinese version of critical thinking disposition inventory (CTDI-CV). Results The experimental group students′ theory assessment results, critical thinking ability and self-regulated learning ability were (75.68±9.32), (303.04±16.54), (112.39±11.10) higher than the control group (69.43±11.41), (288.23±15.84), (102.58±9.31), the difference was statistically significant (t = 2.837,3.451,3.512, P<0.05). Conclusions The flipped class model based on SPOC teaching method was better than traditional teaching mode, it improved the students' theory assessment results and self-regulated learning ability and critical thinking ability. Key words: Education, Nursing; small private online course; Flipped Classroom

오프라인 교육서비스와 온라인 교육서비스의 대체성 및 보완성에 대한 실증분석:성인 외국어 교육

오프라인 교육서비스와 온라인 교육서비스의 대체성 및 보완성에 대한 실증분석:성인 외국어 교육

The Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Mobile Health Application TangTangQuan in Management of Type 1 Diabetes in China

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of mobile health application TangTangQuan (TTQ) in management of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in China. Methods: TTQ is designed to provide diabetes self-management education (DSME) for patients with T1D.The innovation of TTQ is to break the isolation of individual T1D patients by socializing their self-management data, and let them find the “patients like me.” TTQ included four major modules: personal diabetes diary, games for DSME, peer support communities and online education courses. Patients recorded and uploaded their diabetes diary via TTQ, and peer patients or family members were able to make comments, or share their own experiences, or interact with the up loaders under the posts. Free download and registration of TTQ was available in major APP stores for mobiles in China since September 2015. The self-report demographic and clinical data were collected through TQQ. Results: During September 2015 and December 2017, a total of 7641 patients (M/F, 3716/3925) aged 21.28±14.43 years, with duration of T1D 2.50 (1.00,6.90) years, have signed up and joined the management of TTQ, from 21 provinces in China. Fifty two percent were 18 to 45 years old and 41% were less than 18 years old. Twenty four percent of them were active in peer support communities including sharing their experiences in management of T1D. Among 2903 patients with duration of diabetes ≥1 year who have used TTQ for ≥1 year,435 have continuous record for 1 year of self-meter blood glucose (SMBG) at least 4 times per day in TTQ. Among these patients, SMBG frequency was 2.43/week(1.40,13.13) and 2.88/week(0.63,11.92) (P=0.967), HbA1c was 6.59±1.40% and 6.40±1.39%(P=0.002), the frequency of hypoglycemia was 6.75/week (4.00,11.50) and 6.25/week (2.75,9.67) (P=0.005) before and after one year use of TTQ, respectively. Conclusions: TTQ has the potential to be a novel intervention for engaging T1D patients and their families in positive communication to support DSME. Disclosure P. Ling: None. S. Luo: None. J. Yan: None. X. Zheng: None. D. Yang: None. X. Zeng: None. J. Weng: None.

Elementos que motivan al usuario a obtener certificación de “cursos en línea” en Educación Superior

Debido al aumento mundial del interés en los cursos en línea, toma importancia adaptar los cursos de Unimet en línea a las necesidades de sus usuarios. El objetivo de este estudio es determinar los elementos que motivan a los usuarios a obtener certificaciones de cursos en línea en Educación Superior. Lo anterior se logra mediante el instrumento de una encuesta a 899 usuarios de los 11.000 inscritos en la plataforma Unimet en línea para el momento del estudio. Las respuestas recibidas indican que la mayor parte de los que realizan cursos son personas con grado de licenciatura. Se observa que una mayoría del 80% no adquirió certificados en la plataforma, debido a razones de índole monetaria, de relevancia y la no culminación del curso. Se puede decir que los usuarios le han dado mayor importancia a los conocimientos que a la obtención del certificado. Mediante el estudio se logró una perspectiva más amplia de los elementos estudiados, que permiten ajustar los cursos para promover la certificación de los usuarios.

Examining direct and indirect effects of classroom procedural justice on online students’ willingness to talk

ABSTRACTInterest in understanding what constitutes effective instruction online continues to grow as more universities adopt mediated formats for teaching. However, engaging students in productive, content-related conversation in online courses remains challenging. Several variables may influence student willingness to talk in online classes – procedural justice, affect towards the instructor, and perceived cognitive learning – each with probable direct and indirect effects on student inclinations for communicating in the classroom. This study proposes a model predicting student willingness to talk in online classes. Results indicate initial support for the proposed model, and practical implications for instructors teaching online courses are suggested.

Exploring Students’ Engagement Patterns in SPOC Forums and their Association with Course Performance

With the popularity of Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) in higher education, a plentiful of discussion data has been increasingly generated in SPOC forums. With 752 undergraduates’ discussion posts, this study aims to investigate students’ engagement patterns within SPOC forums in terms of engagement behaviors and emotions. Firstly, we designed a behavioral code rule to identify posting- and content-level behaviors, and examined their association with course performance. Secondly, we built an emotion lexicon including positivity, negativity and confusion word sets, and adopted an emotion calculation approach to visualize emotional evolutionary trends and to examine emotional differences in registration types and course performance. The results show that, (1) the high-performing group was more active in the most engagement behaviors except for interactive postings. (2) The registered group delivered more threads and wrote richer vocabulary in post content. (3) Whether students were registered for a course or not did not have a significant effect on their emotional expressions, but the registered group exhibited more confusion in forum interactions at the end of the semester. (4) Positive emotion was prevailing for the entire population. Furthermore, compared with the low-achieving group, the high-performing group had higher emotion densities in three types of emotions.

Mapping the Factors Influencing Success of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) in Higher Education

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) is a new phenomenon in online learning that has aroused increasing interest by researchers as a significant contribution to improving educational system quality and openness. The purpose of this paper is to compile and analyze MOOC research that has been published between 2012 and 2016. A systematic analysis technique was employed and Template Analysis (TA) approach was used for mapping MOOC research into three dimensions in accordance with the Biggs 3P model. First dimension is Presage, include the following factors: Learners' characteristics with sub-factors (learner demographics, learner motivation, and interactivity) and instructor. Second, Process, including factors of pedagogy, pattern of engagement, instructional design, assessment, credit, plagiarism, sustainability, and learning analytics. Third dimension is Product, including factors of student dropout rate and MOOC quality. This classification is aimed at providing a comprehensive overview for readers interested in MOOCs who seek to understand the critical success factors influencing MOOC success.

The use of MOOCs in social enterprise education: an evaluation of a North–South collaborative FutureLearn program

This study contributes to the literature on technology and entrepreneurship education, and in particularly to the discussion on massive open online courses (MOOCs) in social enterprise education. Using the Freeth/Kirkpatrick's evaluation model, this paper examines the effectiveness of a social enterprise MOOC program – The FutureLearn (FL) Social Enterprise Program – created in a collaboration between Middlesex University, Living in Minca Ltd in London and the Jindal Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at O.P. Jindal Global University in Delhi, India. To date, there is no evidence of previous work evaluating the effectiveness of a MOOC in social enterprise education, particularly one designed in collaboration between institutions from the global North and South countries. Our findings revealed that the FutureLearn Social Enterprise Program was perceived as positive, and we identified evidence of changes in behavior, as well as, benefits and opportunities for both individuals and organizations. The results provide insights into alternative forms of collaboration for the creation and implementation of enterprise education courses, and specifically for collaborations in the design of social enterprise MOOC programs done between global North and South countries.

Research on New Online Courses Adapting to the Needs of Military Vocational Education

Military vocational education is a continuing education for military personnel. It is an urgent task for military vocational education to cultivate a large number of new military talents with high quality. In the transition from academic education to vocational education in military academies and universities, constructing a new type of online course that meets the needs of vocational education is an important part of the construction of information teaching resources. This paper mainly analyzes the status and function of online courses in vocational education. It discusses the basic characteristics of online courses in military vocational education from three aspects: the choice of teaching contents, the organization form of teaching contents and teaching links. Finally, Vocational education online courses should be designed to follow specific principles.

Analysis of the status quo of new nurse standardized training and its influencing factors in MOOC era

Objective To investigate the current situation of standardized training and its influencing factors in the introduction of massive open online course (MOOC) teaching methods to newly recruited nurses. Methods From July to October 2017, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 176 nurses in a ClassⅢ Grade A hospital in Hu'nan Province. The survey contents included general information, status of new nurses' participation of the standardization training of MOOC and the satisfaction of it. Results The total score of the trainee nurses attending the standardized training of MOOC was (68.85±9.65) , and score of satisfaction was (64.42±9.60) . The result of multivariate analysis indicated that nurses' education degree, the length of work and the educator's professional title were the main influencing factors of new nurses' satisfaction with MOOC standardization training (P<0.05) . Conclusions The current status and satisfaction of the newly enrolled nurses in MOOC training are at a moderate level. It is suggested that based on the influencing factors, hospitals should perfect the MOOC platform, adjust new nurses scheduling system, strengthen the construction of teachers team, so that the new nurses can integrate more quickly into clinical practice. Key words: Inservice training; Massive open online course; Standardization training; New nurses; Satisfaction; Influencing factors

Wikis as Online Collaborative Learning Experiences: “A Different Kind of Brainstorming”

Online learning has become an established and customary way for adults to learn. Adult educators are challenged with promoting learner engagement through online collaborative teaching practices, such as wiki-based learning experiences. Although much literature was available regarding use of wikis to promote writing processes among adults, little literature was available that explored how use of wikis promotes the thinking that occurs prior to writing. This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods research design to explore the preliminary perceptions of adult learners who participated in wiki-based online collaborative learning experiences as a way to stimulate their thinking for subsequent writing tasks. Participants ( n = 25) were graduate-level learners enrolled in an online educational research course. Data were collected via a pre- and post-questionnaire administered at the inception and conclusion of three wiki-based online collaborative learning experiences. Quantitative data were analyzed using paired samples t tests to explore perceptions of usefulness and ease of use, which resulted in two statistically significant findings. Qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive analysis techniques to explore perceptions related to benefits and challenges with wikis to stimulate thinking, which identified four themes. Findings and limitations of this study were discussed, as well as implications for practitioners.

Exploring the Most Decisive Online Education Determinants as Impacted by Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy

This research cross-employed the Factor Analysis (FA) approach and the Entropy Compared Analysis (ECA) model of quantitative analysis and the fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method of qualitative analysis to creatively pioneer the most effective and efficient Comprehensive Online Education Competitive Evaluation Model (COECEM). This was done in order to conduce the most Valuable Online Education Determinants (VOED) for exploring the most decisive online education determinants of sustainable strategy in the New Southbound Policy introduced in Taiwan. The most valuable findings are that “Keyword-search Engine (KE) and Web 3.0 (W3) of core factors of Social Media Technology (SMT)” and “feedback technology function (FTF) and Course Complete Rate (CCR) of critical factors of Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs)” directly and inductively influence “Teaching Resource Distribution Administrative Consensus (TRDAC) of Resource Satisfaction Competency (RSC)”. The reason is that feedback technology function and course completion rate with keyword-search engine and Web 3.0 in online education technological supporting in taking online education courses are the most considered key factors during corporate employees selecting online education MOOCs for higher education institutes sustainable operation in support of the New Southbound Policy.

Effect of Electronic and Lecture-Based Continuing Education Courses on Level of Knowledge of General Dentists on Dental Bleaching

Background: The efficacy of electronic continuing education courses in comparison to lectured based methods requires further evaluation. This study aimed at comparing the effect of electronic (e-learning) and face-to-face conventional instruction on level of knowledge of general dentists on bleaching of discolored teeth. Methods: In this quasi-experimental controlled trial study in 2017 (1396) with post-test and control group design, firstly, a lecture-based continuing education courses at Shahid Beheshti University on discoloration of a single tooth was carried out for general dentists (as the control group, N = 35). Then, a continuing education online course with the same topic was done for the second group (N = 35). Convenience sampling was used to select participants of each group. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire, which consisted of 2 parts (post-test with 10 questions and a satisfaction questionnaire with 10 questions). Content validity and test-retest reliability (r = 0.8) of both was determined. Data analysis was performed using the t-test and Pearson’s chi square test using the SPSS 23 software. The level of statistical significant was considered at P = 0.05. Results: The mean knowledge score after education was 7.02 (2.87) in e-learning and 6.77 (1.23) in the conventional group. The difference between the 2 groups was not significant (P = 0.63). Overall, 91.4% in the e-learning and 91.5% in the conventional group believed that the educational course obviated their occupational needs. Conclusions: E-learning was as effective as conventional instruction for bleaching of a single discolored tooth in terms of knowledge score (post-test score) and self-reported satisfaction and attitude of dentists.

Online Adjunct Faculty: A Quantitative Examination of the Predictive Relationship between Leadership and Job Satisfaction

Advances in technology and the rapid expansion and affordability of the internet have helped facilitate the use of online education, or e-learning. To accommodate increased online enrollments, universities are hiring adjunct faculty to teach online courses. Despite the importance of adjunct faculty, there is a lack of research on the experiences of adjuncts, and particularly on the experiences of adjunct faculty who teach online classes. Likewise, there is a lack of research in the for-profit sector of post-secondary education in the United States. This quantitative correlational study addressed this gap in knowledge by investigating the predictive relationship between dimensions of the Full Range Leadership Theory, transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, and the overall job satisfaction of adjunct faculty who teach online classes at a for-profit university in the United States. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire and Spector’s Job Satisfaction Survey were used to collect data to measure the faculty’s perceptions of leadership and job satisfaction. The results of multiple linear regression indicated transformational leadership was a significant predictor of job satisfaction, and increased overall satisfaction when present. Transactional leadership was also a significant predictor of overall job satisfaction, but demonstrated a negative relationship. Laissez-faire leadership was not a significant predictor of overall job satisfaction.

Influence of Infrastructure and Info Structure, Curriculum, Pedagogy and Content in Teaching and Learning through MOOCs

In Malaysia, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is an emerging approach in the higher education teaching and learning which takes the new role of technology to the next level. However, the successful implementation of MOOC requires effective strategic planning and understanding of the whole process involved. This study investigates the influence of infrastructure and info structure, curriculum, pedagogy, and content towards enhancement in teaching and learning in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in one of the common course offered in Malaysian Public Universities. This study examines the pilot data from a bigger dataset collected from an online survey. Collected data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), to propose a model of enhancement in teaching and learning through MOOCs. Preliminary analysis shows that infrastructure and info structure, curriculum, pedagogy, content, and enhancement in teaching and learning were significantly correlated to each other. The overall contribution of this model which to enhancement in teaching and learning was 13.0%. The model summarized that only curriculum construct influence the enhancement in teaching and learning (?=0.244; p<0.01) make it as the sole contributor for this model.

SCORMAdaptiveQuiz: Implementation of Adaptive e-Learning for Moodle

One of the advantages of online learning, which is evolving at a rapid rate, is that it can be standardized. However, it also has a disadvantage in that online content lacks adaptivity. In this study, we aim to improve online content adaptivity, and develop an extension plugin for Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) for Moodle: SCORMAdaptiveQuiz (https://github.com/uedahiro4/SCORMAdaptiveQuiz), which can provide the adaptive presentation feature in accordance with the pre-knowledge of the learner as reflected from a pre-test created by the Moodle quiz module. Data were collected from the productive operation of the module for a year in the security awareness education online course “Learn with Princess Rin Rin: Cyberethics” provided in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean and hosted on GakuNinMoodle (https://security-learning.nii.ac. jp/), which is widely used in universities in Japan. The result of the data analysis revealed the effect of the SCORMAdaptiveQuiz module: An improved access rate was obtained in the 2016 academic year than in 2015 for all four languages. In addition, a significant improvement was seen in the results of the final test of the Korean and Chinese course in comparison with that of the 2015 academic year. On the other hand, a slight decrease in the score of the final test was observed for the English and Japanese courses. We argue that the SCORMAdaptiveQuiz plugin is useful in providing an adaptive online course in accordance with the knowledge of the learner.